What Is Love
by Lionheart543
Summary: AH High School: Caroline is a social outcast. Klaus is the new kid in school. They seem to have one thing in common; Their love of art. Currently on Hiatus.
1. The Beginning

**Oh my god...I've started another new story while I'm in the middle of writing two others. Sugar! I didn't mean to start a new story it just kind of happened. In sat down to write the next chapter to one of my other stories and...Bang! New story idea. This is basically a fluffy Klaroline that I really hope you enjoy! See you at the ****bottom! (I stole that from another author...I'm sure they won't mind)**

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Caroline was extremely bored.

Her English teacher just wouldn't stop talking. Who gave a damn about Shakespeare and how his work had 'inspired millions'?

He was dead. Why should she care about some guy who had been alive half a millennium ago? Caroline firmly believed that it was the present that mattered, not the past.

Unless it was art. History of art was extremely important and in her opinion it should replace English on the national curriculum. Who needed to be able to read and write when there was art in the world?

'You can express yourself with a paintbrush more than you ever could with a pen' her dad had always said to her before he had decided to move halfway across the country with his new boyfriend Steve. Caroline hadn't seen her dad in seven years and he only ever phoned her on Christmas or her birthday.

Her dad owned an art gallery in California where he now lived and worked. He was extremely happy and, she knew this thanks to four months of stalking him and Steve on Facebook, had adopted a Chinese orphan named Meiling. She couldn't hate him. Even after everything he had done she still loved him. He was her dad. She had to love him.

Finally the bell went and Caroline packed up her stuff as quickly as possible before rushing out the door in record time. She had double art after lunch and wanted to eat before heading to the art block to work on her extra credit project that she had been given last week.

Caroline walked into the canteen and scanned the tables for her best friend Bonnie. Bonnie was sitting in the back of the canteen, her head buried deep in her book. Caroline walked over to the table and sat across from her friend.

Bonnie didn't acknowledge her. Caroline didn't mind.

It had always been this way. Ever since they had met on the first day of freshman year, three years ago, the two had barley spoken. In the beginning Caroline would try and talk to the dark skinned girl but never once had she gotten a response. For a while Caroline had thought that Bonnie hated her and it wasn't till the begging of sophomore year that her theory was proven wrong.

_Caroline pushed her glasses up as she tried to concentrate on the sketch in front of her. She just couldn't get the nose right. Caroline had been working on the nose since she had gotten to school but it just wasn't working. Sighing she ripped the page out of her sketchbook. The noise in the canteen wasn't doing anything to help her concentration. She should probably just wait until lunch ended and Math began where she was sure to be able to work on her sketches since the teacher was practically blind. _

_Caroline stood up and walked over to the bin on the other side of the canteen. The canteen was massive but it only had one bin. So Caroline had to walk through all the jocks (who smelled) all the cheerleaders (who were to loud for her liking) and passed the Pierce sisters table (who hated her…with a passion). Caroline didn't know what she had ever done to piss them off, but it must have been pretty bad since they did nothing but try to make her life a living nightmare. Emphasise on try. _

_Caroline had learned while still in middle school to stay out of their way and to not pull attention to herself. Darting through the crowd she threw the piece of paper in the bin and turned around to find Katherine and Elena Pierce blocking her way. _

"_Caroline." Elena practically spat. _

"_Hey Elena. Hey Katherine. I'm um going to go back over there, if that's okay." Caroline said, slightly uncomfortably. It wasn't that she was afraid of the twins. It was that everyone had turned to stare at them. The Pierce sisters were pretty much royalty. Even though they were sophomore's most of the seniors seemed to worship the ground they walked on._

_The twins were 'exotic' something people in Mystic Falls didn't see a lot. Elena and Katherine both looked eastern European, with their olive skin and dark hair even though neither of them had ever been to Europe. They were different unlike Caroline who was perfectly ordinary. Caroline's blond out-of-control hair and blue eyes were boring compared to the twin's looks. _

"_That would be a no." Katherine said as both girls took a step towards Caroline. It had gone silent in the canteen; everyone was staring intently at the confrontation afraid to make a sound. Caroline had had enough. She hated that people were staring at her. She had tried so hard to be invisible. All she ever wore were baggy black sweatshirts and jeans, so that she didn't stand out._

_Caroline was a loner obsessed with painting and sketching. Caroline liked being a loner obsessed with painting and sketching. _

"_Please just let me go." Caroline begged, not waiting for a reply before walking around Elena. But Caroline didn't notice Elena stick out her right foot slightly so as she passed, Caroline tripped and landed flat on her face. The whole room burst into laughter, pointing and giggling at her. Some even pulled their phones out to take photos. _

"_Say cheese!" Elena said snidely, taking out her phone and taking a dozen photos. Caroline was so embarrassed, she couldn't move off the floor. She just laid there, silent tears streaming down her cheek. No on helped her. No one helped her but Bonnie. _

_The dark haired girl rushed towards her and made Caroline stand back up on her feet again. Bonnie had Caroline's bag and slung it over her shoulder as she grabbed Caroline's hand and dragged her away from all the laughing teenagers. _

_Bonnie led her towards the bathroom where she grabbed some toilet paper and gave it to Caroline. Caroline took the toilet paper gratefully and dried her eyes._

_The two girls stood in the bathroom waiting out the end of lunch. Caroline had to ask Bonnie something but was afraid that she wouldn't answer or would roll her eyes at the blonde and leave. Caroline decided to screw it and ask the question._

"_Why did you help me back there?" Caroline finally breathed out, nervously waiting for Bonnie's response. Bonnie looked back at her in shock before recovering and turning away again to stare at the tiled ceiling._

"_What are best friends for?" Bonnie said with a shrug._

After that Caroline never again doubted their friendship. Just because they didn't talk, didn't mean they didn't understand each other. Caroline had learned to read Bonnie like, well, a book based on what she was reading. Charles Dickens meant that she was either sad or upset and Jane Austen meant she was in a good mood.

Today she was reading Persuasion by Jane Austen. But earlier today during their free period she had been reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. What could have changed her friend's mood in less than three hours?

Knowing that Bonnie wouldn't answer her, Caroline didn't ask.

Caroline inhaled her tuna pasta salad before looking up to see Bonnie staring at her. Caroline went red. She ate like a pig because she thought that no one was watching. Bonnie had just seen her eat like a pig.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry." Bonnie asked raising an eyebrow. It took Caroline a second to reply. She was so in shock that Bonnie had actually spoken to her.

"I'm going to the art block to get some extra credit work done. Want to come with me?" Caroline asked. Maybe if her and Bonnie spent more time together they would get closer and actually talk to each other at lunch.

Bonnie shook her head and returned to her book leaving Caroline disappointed. Shrugging it off she shoved her stuff into her bag and set of towards the art block on the other side of campus. Her school was massive.

It had an art block, a science block filled with chemistry, biology and physics labs, a maths and English block, a humanities block, a language block, a dance studio, a drama studio, a music room, a gym, a pool and everything else you could ever want at school. Apart from a bed and a pillow.

When Caroline arrived at the art department she was shocked to find that it was already being occupied. Usually it was just her in here alone when she visited at break. No one else cared as much as she did about art.

There was a boy sitting inside with his back to her as he finished off painting one of the best paintings she'd ever seen someone her age produce. Not able to stay quiet any longer she spoke up.

"Your painting is amazing." Caroline said. As soon as the words had left her mouth, she cringed at how stupid she sounded. Being an artist she knew how frustrating it could be when someone complimented your work when it wasn't finished.

The boy jumped up in surprise, as he had obviously not heard her come in. He turned around to face her and Caroline could see how gorgeous he was. It was safe to say he wasn't your typical Mystic Falls High art geek. The boy had sandy blonde hair and deep blue eyes. The artist in Caroline could see how beautiful he was. But there was also something extremely unsettling about the boy. Something dark. Something dangerous.

"You should announce yourself when you enter a room." The boy muttered turning his painting away from her. Caroline, stupidly, felt hurt by it. She didn't know the boys name but she had felt something when he looked at her. Almost like a spark.

"I'm sorry, I'm usually the only one in here. Are you new here? I haven't seen you around before." Caroline rambled on. She was known for talking too much when under pressure.

"I'm new." The boy said. He was British! How hadn't she noticed that earlier? She had to stop herself from staring. The boy was any girl's dream guy. Hot? Check. Mysterious? Check. British? Check.

Caroline walked to the back of the room where she kept her supplies unsure how to continue. Should she tell him her name? Should she back off and leave him to his work? Urgh this was difficult!

The bell went just as she was about to introduce herself to him. He put his painting away to dry, grabbed his bag a rushed towards the door. Caroline again felt disappointed as she stared at his back. But as the boy reached for the door handle he turned back to her and said "I'm Klaus."

"Caroline."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The double period passed quicker than Caroline would have liked and it wasn't until after that she was able to think about Klaus again. After he had left she had gone to look at his work again. She couldn't get over how good it was. It was better than anything she had ever done.

Caroline trudged along to her car, My Chemical Romance blasting through her earphones. Her car was an extremely old fiat, one where she had to put the key in the door of the car to unlock it. Plunking her sketchbook and textbooks down on the seat next to her she looked round the car park for Klaus. She found him stood by the side of his car with a boy and a girl both equally good looking as he was.

The girl was talking to someone who Caroline couldn't identify from her car, but she seemed to be enjoying herself. The boy stood with the girl laughing and smiling occasionally to something one of the girls said.

Klaus looked the same as he had when Caroline had seen his art. Pissed. He was glaring at, who Caroline could only assume were, his brother and sister annoyance written clearly over his face.

Another boy ran up to them a cheeky smile on his face. The girl laughed while both Klaus and his brother rolled their eyes. Then all four proceeded to get into the car and drive away at top speed.

As they drove away Caroline got one last look at Klaus sitting in the front seat, before they disappeared around the corner.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

***Hides behind hands* so how was it? Good? Bad? Should I continue? I'm just going to give you the ages of the characters that I've mentioned so far.**

**Caroline: 17**

**Klaus: 17**

**Bonnie: 17**

**Katherine and Elena: 17**

**Elijah: 18 (I'll clear that up later)**

**Rebekah: 16**

**Kol: 15**

**Please review and tell me if I should continue or not :-)**


	2. A Second Meeting

**Hello! It's me! I'm alive! And after nearly 11 months of you all waiting very patiently I am here with an update! I just want to say thank you for the amazing response I received for this story! After only one chapter I got 40 follows which was absolutely amazing! Thank you all so much and I really hope you enjoy this next chapter! **

**But please keep in mind that I can't spell to save my life.**

* * *

Caroline arrived home that night to find her house empty. Shocker. Her mum was never home when she got back from school. Elizabeth Forbes took her duty as Town Sherriff more seriously that she took her duty as a mother. Caroline had struggled with this as a child but now that she was older she was beginning to understand her mother's perspective.

The simple truth was that Elizabeth Forbes never wanted to be a parent. Caroline's dad on the other hand, loved children and had wanted to start a family so Liz had given into his wishes and they had a 'sweet baby girl' named Caroline. When her dad had left, he had dumped Caroline with Liz knowing full well that his ex-wife had never wanted a child. It turned out that Bill Forbes wanted a child, just not her. He wanted a Chinese orphan called Meiling and Caroline was now okay with that.

Throwing her bag down onto the floor, Caroline walked into the kitchen to get something to eat. She had spent her time on the way home _convincing_ herself that apples were the most delicious, mouth-watering food that existed in the whole entire world, but walking into the kitchen Caroline saw a packet of store-bought cookies sitting on the kitchen top and her plans to be healthy flew out the window. Who needed a perfect body when there was chocolate in the world?

After finishing her cookie as well as eating a packet of blueberries (balanced diet and all that crap), Caroline sped upstairs to her bedroom. Over the past few years her bedroom had become her safe haven. Caroline spent the majority of her time in her room sketching, listening to music or pondering the meaning of life. It was a safe, non-judgemental zone where Caroline felt she could relax without worrying about what other people thought about her.

The room itself was mainly white, but it had a feature wall, which was painted navy blue. The room was extremely bright due to the window in the roof and the windows scattered around the room. To Caroline, it was perfect.

Caroline landed on her bed with a loud thump, making the contents of her room shake. She reached down under the bed and pulled out a large box with a lock on it. Caroline had been given the box when she was younger by her grandmother who told her to use it to put her most valuable things in. Inside the box were multiple family photos from when Caroline was younger and buried underneath that was a plain black sketchbook.

Grabbing her pencil and turning to the next clear page, Caroline started to sketch the outline of a face. Sketching allowed Caroline to take her mind of the world and get utterly lost in her thoughts. Usually she just sat down and before she knew it she had sketched a person who went to her school, an animal but generally she would sketch various buildings that were scattered around Mystic Falls.

As she began to work, Caroline's thoughts drifted to the mysterious Klaus. He was attractive, that was for sure, and he had a certain vibe about him that made Caroline want to swoon however, he didn't have hoards of girls surrounding him in the art room. Caroline knew the girls at her school; they lived for fresh meat and that was what Klaus now was. He was the new guy and yes while his brothers weren't unattractive, they certainly didn't live up to Klaus. Did Klaus just prefer his own company? Had he decided to escape from the real world at lunch and just get absorbed in his art? Well, no one could really blame him if that was the case. Caroline knew the Petrova twins would have jumped on him instantly.

Caroline became so lost in the maze that was her thoughts that she didn't realise how much time had passed. Looking down at her phone, Caroline saw that she had been home for nearly and hour meaning that she had spent at least forty-five minutes sketching. 'Time to see the finished result' Caroline thought to herself as she looked down at her sketchbook.

She had drawn…. Klaus. Seriously? Had she seriously subconsciously drawn Klaus? Urgh, she felt like such a creep. It was a shame because the sketch was one of her better ones as well. Her absolute favourite things to draw or paint were by far buildings but Klaus seemed to come so naturally to her. Strange.

Caroline decided she'd procrastinated enough for one day. She closed her sketchbook before putting it back in the box and locking it, so her mother couldn't come in and spy on what she was doing. Not that Liz Forbes would any way.

It was only the first day back after the winter break, yet her teachers had all decided that they hated their students and decided to punish them by giving them a mountain of homework to complete. Caroline sighed as she sat down at her kitchen table. She pulled out her French books and began to write her page long essay about what she did at the weekend. But, since she was a complete loner with only one friend, Caroline hadn't done anything at the weekend except listen to music '(J'ecoute de la musique) and sketch (Je peins) she had to make everything up so that it would fill a whole sheet of A4.

As far as her French teacher knew, she was a super popular surfboarder who went to the cinema with her dozens of friends every weekend.

By the time Caroline had finished writing her essay and had checked it over for spelling mistakes (of which there were many) her mother was home. Caroline and her mother followed a very similar pattern every night once her mum got home from the station. Brief conversation before Liz Forbes either went back to the station, leaving Caroline alone for the night, or into her office at home, leaving Caroline alone for the night.

"Hey" Caroline said as her mum walked into the kitchen. Liz gave her a small smile.

"Hi" Her mum responded. "How was school?" Caroline internally rolled her eyes. This happened every night.

Cue kind of awkward conversation where the two of them pretend to have a mother-daughter relationship.

"Boring. How was work?"

"Quiet."

"There's some lasagne in the fridge. I was about to have eat, do you want some?"

"I can't. I'm not staying long; I'm working the night shift tonight. I'm going to have a shower and then I'll grab a sandwich on the way back to the station."

With that, her mum went upstairs leaving Caroline alone in the kitchen once more. Caroline sighed. For once she had thought that maybe her mum would eat dinner with her and they could at least pretend to be a normal family. But no, sheriff duties were once again more important than her teenage daughter.

Ten minutes later, her mum came back downstairs and left for the station. Caroline ran a hand through her hair (which probably needed washing) before moving towards the fridge to get the lasagne out.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next day, Caroline had maths first period. After English, maths was her least favourite subject. She just didn't understand how it worked and didn't understand when she would ever need it in life. Like, seriously? Who needs to know how to use Pythagoras on a day-to-day basis? Surly they could be learning something more useful and more interesting!

Caroline walked into her maths room to see Katherine and Elena standing around two desks in the centre of the room with their minions. Caroline sat down in her seat at the front of the classroom (her teacher had moved her since he didn't believe she was paying enough attention in class) before turning around to see whose desk they were fawning over.

Surprise, surprise it was Klaus's and, who she presumed to be, his brother's. Klaus's brother was revelling in the attention he was receiving from the twins, sending them smiles. Oh, God. After only one day Klaus's brother was already under the 'Petrova Charm' as Caroline fondly called it.

Klaus, however, sat with his head down sketching intensely. Elena kept trying to get his attention but Klaus was obviously uninterested in her.

Caroline didn't even know Klaus but him not paying attention to Elena was a huge win for her. Yes, while Klaus wasn't exactly friendly with her yesterday, he hadn't ignored her. Elena was a horrible person and for the first time since the beginning of high school, someone other than her and Bonnie seemed to notice that.

Suddenly, Klaus looked up and their eyes met for a second before Caroline whipped her head back around to face the front. She felt so embarrassed! He probably thought she was some creepy girl who had a weird obsession with him. Great.

She could feel his eyes on her for the rest of the hour and as soon as the bell went, Caroline rushed to get to her next lesson.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

At lunch Caroline headed straight for the art block. Bonnie had a meeting with her English teacher and Caroline didn't feel like sitting by herself in the cafeteria.

Once she got there, she saw Klaus sitting with his back to her working on his painting. Caroline had to resist the urge to look over his shoulder at his work. It was the most annoying thing in the world and Caroline hated when people did that to her so she decided not to put Klaus through that torment.

Not wanting to distract him, Caroline silently took a seat on the other side of the room and pulled out her sketchbook. She had been working on an extra-credit project since September and it was due in in six weeks time. The topic was foreign country's monuments and landscapes but unfortunately she had never been anywhere before except to visit her dad, so she had decided on Mount Fuji in Japan of which there were many photos on Google. Caroline had spent weeks looking at different images and in the end decided that the main feature of her painting would be the cherry blossoms. They were the things she associated the most with Japan, so she decided to make them the centrepiece and have the mountain more in the background. Caroline had nearly finished her sketch and would be ready to transfer in to canvas in a couple of day's time.

Caroline became so lost in her work, shading and adding things into her drawing, that she didn't hear Klaus calling her name. He walked over to her and tapped her on the shoulder, making her jump in surprise.

"Hey. I called your name multiple times." Klaus said in his oh so gorgeous British accent.

"Sorry. I wasn't paying attention." Caroline responded, keeping her head down to stop him from seeing her blushing.

"Clearly" At this Caroline just rolled her eyes and sighed. Klaus just laughed.

"What was it that you wanted?" Caroline said looking him straight in the eye. Klaus smirked at her.

"I saw you sitting here by yourself, and decided to come keep you company."

"Thank you so much for your consideration. You're such a gentleman." Caroline said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"I know. The girls can't seem to get enough of it." Klaus responded matching her tone.

"Ah yes, I saw how much the girls were drooling over you this morning. You must be quite the charmer to have that many girls surrounding you. And Katherine and Elena Petrova? Damn, you are one lucky guy." Klaus pulled a face.

"I feel so blessed." He responded, rolling his eyes.

"No, but seriously. What was that?" Caroline asked turning back to her sketch. She wasn't going to get much done with him sitting there but hey, she could at least try.

"I don't know to be perfectly honest with you. I think it's the accent."

"Oh, yeah. It's defiantly the accent. You by yourself, you're all right. You plus the accent, pretty much any girl's dream." Caroline said in a mock serious tone.

"I'm wounded, dear Caroline, that without my accent you think that I'm 'all right'." Klaus said, placing a hand on his chest. Caroline laughed and Klaus smiled at her, obviously making her go red again.

"So why are you sitting with me in an art room when you could be sitting in the cafeteria with the Petrova twins." Caroline asked looking up from her sketch. She was genuinely curious about his answer. He was a good-looking guy and yet he'd still be sitting here with her than in the cafeteria with them.

"I had to get away. I like to be by myself and I just felt so crowded with them. Elijah, my brother, laps up the attention. I mean, I think most guys would if a pretty girl was showing interest in them. But I can see beneath that, beneath the make up, beneath the pretty face. And on the inside I reckon the Petrova sisters aren't as pretty as they seem."

"Well, you got that right." Caroline said under her breath. Klaus heard however.

"What, you're not friends with the Petrova's?" Klaus asked with a half smile.

"For some reason they just hate me. I don't think I've ever done anything to them; they just don't like me. Made my life hell because of it as well." Caroline said with a sigh.

"What did they do to you?" Klaus said, looking concerned. Caroline felt all warm and fuzzy inside.

"You don't want to know. Trust me; it's not good." Klaus sensed that she didn't want to talk about it so he didn't push the matter.

"What are you working on?" He asked looking at her sketchbook. Suddenly, Caroline felt very nervous. He was such as good artist. What if he thought her work was terrible?

"It's an extra credit project that I'm working on. I'm nearly done sketching it so hopefully I can start painting it next week."

"Cool. It's really good by the way. You can see so much depth in it all ready." Klaus said approvingly.

"Well, I'm glad you like it." Caroline replied. She looked up at him to find that he was staring at her. This time Caroline didn't look away but instead she held his gaze. His eyes were a deep blue and Caroline was sure she could get lost in them for the rest of eternity.

Suddenly, the bell rang, catching Caroline by surprise. Caroline blushed and looked down. Klaus moved from where he was sitting and grabbed his bag whilst Caroline packed her stuff away.

Without saying goodbye, Caroline left the room. She really didn't want to have an awkward goodbye and make him feel like he had to walk with her to the main campus.

"Wait, Caroline!" Klaus shouted after her. Caroline turned around and looked at him.

"Can I have your number?

* * *

**Okay, I know Klaus and Caroline are very OCC but if you don't like it, you don't have to read it. Please review and hopefully I'll be able to update a lot quicker than last time. **

**-Calovestowrite xx**


End file.
